Utah State Senator Cris Buttars sticks foot in mouth again

Some of you may have read this diary about Buttars calling a bill he opposed "a black baby, a dark ugly thing." Poor Buttars has been catching a lot of hell the past week for what many considered to be a racist remark. Buttars is quite a character here in Utah. If he isn't trying to get the teaching of intelligent design manditory in our high schools, he's killing a bill to make animal cruelity a felony because felons cannot own guns. The NAACP has been calling for Buttars' resignation. He was scheduled to meet with NAACP leaders Tuesday but backed out because he learned that the media would be present, calling it a "cheap shot". He also told the Salt Lake Tribune that he was the target of a "lynch mob" because of all the critical e-mails that he has been getting (One of them mine). When he was criticized for using that term, he dug himself a deeper hole by saying "How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people."

Buttars is an embarrassment to the people of Utah. I wish that he would either shut the fuck up or else move to another state. (Or better yet, both). Not all of the bigots live in the deep South, we have plenty right here in Utah and elsewhere. Poor Buttars just doesn't seem to get it. Words do matter. Choose wisely. I suspect that he is not going to approve of the next President of the United States. The times, they are a changin'. Read the full story in the Salt Lake Tribune.

•  Nice Catch

  of a really ugly fish.

  Thanx and hope other Utahans are as outraged at the POS as you are.

  by mattman on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 02:45:56 AM PDT

  •  The problem is, of course,

    that for the moment the overwhelmingly Republican legislature is still simply circling the wagons. Buttars is valuable to them because he dares to say what they try to pass into law, and what an unfortunately large percentage of their constituents think. Bigotry's roots in Utah go very deep and have theological underpinnings which no one wants to talk about, least of all the Mormon church.

    This all said, it's possible that a more generalized outrage (reaching beyond Utah's borders, that is) will induce Utah's Republican leadership to toss out Buttars as a public relations ploy.

    by mofembot on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 04:07:15 AM PDT

•  I understand you're distress.

  But please don't send him packing as he'll likely just slide across the border to Idaho. We have all we can handle here with Bill Sali.

  by crystalboy on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 02:52:49 AM PDT

  •  In defense of Butters

    In defense of Butters, he's just saying what Cartman told him to say. He's not a very bright boy!

    by PhillyJeff on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 02:57:24 AM PDT

    •  Everyone Knows

      It's Butters!

      by Jaxpagan on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 03:09:59 AM PDT

•  The Salt Lake Tribune article was

  hilarious.

  Buttars obviously can't stop. "Those people". lololol.

  by Morgan Sandlin on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 03:01:20 AM PDT

•  Twilight of the Reactionaries

  For years the GOP cultivated a friendly biosphere in the West, the Heartland, the South -- aided and abetted by a Democratic Party that couldn't dare itself to venture past New England and California.

  They bred a fierce brand of judgemental, politically conservative Christianity with American Kennel Club precision. They sowed misinformation and anti-intellectualism like deadly seeds.

  But now, the information age and a bolder, progressive Democratic party is bringing in truth, and the old political habitat of the reactionary is withering.
  Their days are numbered.

  by Jaxpagan on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 03:02:46 AM PDT

•  I forgot to mention that Buttars is a Republican

  Although I'm sure everyone here could figure that out for themselves.

  by rmonroe on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 03:17:08 AM PDT

  •  I never would have known!

    Why, a member of the Party of Lincoln, saying such things... who would have thought?

    .
    .
    .

    MWA HA HA HA!

    by mjfgates on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 04:26:32 AM PDT

•  Refreshingly Stupid

  In a way in which Republicans excel.

  by Splicer on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 03:55:07 AM PDT

•  Keep him in Utah

  At least he's a state senator so his moronic ideas are somewhat contained.

  But, please!!!, do not wish him on another state.  That is just cruel.

  by truegreencore on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 04:28:54 AM PDT

  •  Exactly

    Dispose of your own toxic waste, Utah.  Bury him in that big ol copper mine if you have to.

    by Quicklund on Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 06:27:50 AM PDT

•  wow

  You'd think even someone as lacking in intelligence as Buttars would have figured out that it's time to lay low for a while and stop talking. Amazing that he just kept right on digging that hole.

  Little trip down memory lane here, with another of Buttars' greatest hits:

  Buttars doesn’t disregard evolution completely, rather he believes God is the creator, but His creations have evolved within their own species.

  "We get different types of dogs and different types of cats, but you have never seen a ‘dat,’ ‘’ he said. [link]

  There you have it--bulletproof logical scientific proof, Buttars-style.

  by reid fan on Thu Feb 21, 2008 at 01:10:36 AM PDT